Doctor Who_ Warlock - Andrew Cartmel [61]
The old man’s smile faded. He turned his stony gaze on the couple. ‘Is that right?’
‘We should sort a couple of things out.’
‘Such as?’ The old man adjusted the knot in his shoe string tie and inspected his reflection on the glass surface of one of the desks.
‘Such as whether we actually need a replacement for Summerfield,’ said the Bowman woman.
‘Chrissie, dear, we’ve been through all this.’
‘And in particular,’ said Raymond Bowman, ‘Whether we need that strung‐out junkie on the team.’
The big Texan kept peering down at his reflection in the glass desk. ‘Are you questioning my authority, Raymond?’
Chrissie spoke quickly. ‘We think the decision‐making process around here needs to be more of a group activity, Mr Harrigan.’
‘Do you now?’
‘And we want to register our unhappiness at your choice of personnel with psychological instabilities.’
Now the old man turned away from the husband and focused his full attention on Chrissie Bowman. Webster was glad that cold gaze wasn’t directed at him. ‘That’s a bit ungenerous of you, Chrissie,’ he said. ‘Especially when you consider how much slack I’ve cut certain other members of the team with their own – what was your phrase?’ He paused for a moment. ‘“Psychological instabilities”.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ said Chrissie. But Webster could see that she was shaken. Her husband Raymond hurried over to join her. ‘Are you all right, Chrissie? What’s he talking about?’
Harrigan walked over to the desk were the Bowmans sat side by side. ‘You don’t know?’ he said, feigning surprise.
Chrissie Bowman touched her husband’s arm, as if she was trying to end the confrontation. But he shook her off and stood up, toe to toe with the big old man. ‘No,’ he said, looking Harrigan in the eye.
Harrigan scratched his head. ‘Well, frankly, I’m amazed. You two kids being married and all.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Hasn’t Chrissie shared the tragic story with you? That terrible business about her father?’
Webster saw the fight go out of Raymond Bowman. He sat down and looked away from the big man. ‘That doesn’t have any bearing on this,’ he muttered. Harrigan patted him on the shoulder but he remained sitting limply. It was as if the Texan had used some ultimate weapon that Raymond had believed was out of bounds.
Webster looked at Chrissie Bowman but she was staring fixedly at the carpet.
The silence in the room was getting pretty uncomfortable by the time Artie arrived to join the meeting.
Webster watched Artie closely while the old man told him the news. Artie had been a big fan of Benny’s and now he had to hear she was a traitor. But Webster thought he took it quite well, only asking if their information about her was definite.
‘Pretty much,’ said the Texan, a little sad himself.
‘Well I guess that’s that. What’s going to happen to her?’
‘Miss Summerfield is interested in finding out what the secret of warlock is. So am I. She can join the lab team working in this building. While she’s helping them work on warlock we’ll be keeping an eye on her.’
‘That’s pretty slick,’ conceded Artie. ‘It’s like you’re locking her up but she won’t even know it.’
‘Yep.’ The old Texan nodded. ‘I’m putting her in prison but the whole King Building will be her prison. And all the time she’ll be doing valuable work for us. After all, she’s still on the payroll.’ He grinned and his whole face folded into wrinkles. ‘Now, would anybody else care for a glass of this good whisky?’
* * *
Chapter 15
‘Don’t get too pissed,’ said Tommy. But he waited until his sister was safely out of earshot. He stood at a barred window watching Maxine and Pam walking across the lawns towards the big farmhouse. He felt himself begin to tremble with reaction. He hated it when this happened.
This morning he’d woken up in a good mood and he might have been able to maintain it all day if this hadn’t happened. His sister had always had the knack of sending him crashing into rage and spiralling frustration. Why did she have to treat him